PSY290H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Basilar Membrane, Oval Window, Tectorial Membrane
Document Summary
They"re not communicating with neurotransmitters, but other things, like sound waves. There"s specialized receptors for each type of sensation we can pick up in our environment. Outside of those, we can"t pick it up. The main purpose of thalamus is to relay information to other parts of the brain. Then there"s the cortex, and diff areas of cortex: Primary: area of cortex that gets the bulk of its info from the thalamus. Secondary: gets its input from either primary cortex or other secondary areas. Association: associates input from more than one sensory system. As you"re going along, you"re getting slightly more sophisticated processing- this is the rule of thumb. Looking at how our understanding of sensory systems changed over time. Initial model looked like the left image: the process is hierarchical, each layer of this processing is functionally homogeneous (every part of the thaalmus that received input from the a1 was doing the same thing).
